Cannybots funded

October 7, 2015 | 00:31

The Cannybot kit

The idea behind Cannybots came from a parent contemplating ‘de-addiction’ therapy for his 8 year old son’s overexposure to tablet PCs. Nine out of ten kids in the developed world have access to a smart device and can spend up to four hours a day on it...

The idea behind Cannybots came from a parent contemplating ‘de-addiction’ therapy for his 8 year old son’s overexposure to tablet PCs. Nine out of ten kids in the developed world have access to a smart device and can spend up to four hours a day on it. Trying to find the reason for this he realized that today’s toys are just not engaging enough compared to the digital media available via tablets.

The Cannybot is a fun way to introduce kids to programming, design, technology, 3D printing and STEM. In a domestic or school setting, kids can 3D print their own robots and use them to learn advanced programming techniques.

The system uses a syntax-free programming interface called CannyTalk, so that kids can learn the Logic (words) before they have to learn the Syntax (grammar) - just like they learn any other language. CannyTalk has been developed in collaboration with researchers at the Computer Science Department, University of Cambridge (UK). It is based on a Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine that can interpret the words typed in English and convert them to a form that Cannybot can understand.

The board is compatible with both the Arduino IDE and ARM mbed platform and can be programmed over the air from the Arduino IDE. For more information check out their Kickstarter page. With over thirty days to go, the project has already raised over three times its target.